That gave the Los Angeles-based company a market capitalisation of $2.3 billion, up from $45 million at the start of the week, MarketWatch reported.

Medbox chief executive Bruce Bedrick said in a statement that while business was going well, it wasn’t that good.

"While we are pleased by the share attention, Medbox shares have traded between $2.75 and $3.45 over the past several months. Our fundamentals and market potential are improving, especially with the potential of our new Rx product line, but we temper investor expectations at present price points," Bedrick said.

Founder Vincent Mehdizadeh said the company was taking steps to “avoid a roller-coaster syndrome” and minimize potential shareholder losses should the share price come back down back to earth too quickly.

"We are in discussions with our attorneys to determine if we can reward our early investors who believe in our company, by giving them company-owned shares should the price they bought at fall significantly," Mehdizadeh said.

"That's what investor-focused companies do."

Shares in Medbox closed at $20 today, down more than 90 percent from Thursday’s close.